The Monkey’s Paw



When an antique dealer shows interest in an old family painting, no one in the Trelawne family seems all that enthused with the idea of parting with it, especially for the meager amount of money the dealer is offering. Selling heirlooms is supposed to be bad luck after all. But when the dealer offers to trade a monkey’s paw for the painting instead, Mr. Trelawne can’t seem to pass up the chance to own such a curious little item. Especially when he’s told that the odd little curio supposedly grants the user three wishes. Nobody really thinks anything of the strange little thing until Mr. Trelawne makes a spontaneous wish for £200 and the wish is granted…with tragic consequences.



The Monkey’s Paw is a British horror film from 1948 and is the 5th film adaptation (in a long string of adaptations) of the short story of the same name written by W.W. Jacobs in 1902. As far as film adaptations go this one actually has very little for me to complain about, as it remains surprisingly faithful to the original tale. Except for the fact that they decided to add in some of their own characters and scenes in order to make it longer.



And honestly, it’s all those extra scenes that really bog down the production. Because the original short story itself works just fine on its own as a simple horror story about how getting something for nothing can come back and bite you in the ass in ways that you never expected. But the original short story is just that: short. So in order to make this movie an hour long they had to add in…. Well, quite a bit, actually. Some of what they added I can give a bit of a pass to, like the opening and ending that show the dealer talking to a shop owner who explains what the hand is and where it came from and how dangerous it is, and then later show that same owner getting the wretched little hand back because, holy shit, he was right and no one should probably have access to this damn thing.


Who would want it, is what I’d like to know.

Those scenes, at least, help explain things and also bookend the production. But the movie also shoehorns in an extra character by the name of Kelly, who seems to be there for two reasons: 1) to add some comic relief to an otherwise very dour tale, and 2) to even further explain that the monkey’s paw is bad luck and provide an example to this effect. Now the first point I’ll kinda let slide, what with this being a pretty depressing story and all. Plus, he’s not really that funny and thus not that effective. Sure, the main point of his presence is just a lame excuse to add further time to an otherwise  very short plot, but he does help flesh out some of the characters and their motivations, so his existence in and of itself isn’t a total wash.


At least he delivered the mail…

But the SECOND point is where the movie sort of borks up, because adding in an example (which involves a woman wishing to be free of her husband and then getting murdered by him) sort of diminishes from the impact of the main story that’s supposed to be focused on the Trelawne family. It’s kinda like how some movies foolishly add in a mini jump scare right before their really BIG jump scare, thus fortifying their audience and preparing them for the bigger scare and taking away the second scare’s impact. Except in this case it’s much worse, because this earlier example we’re given isn’t just a quick 2 second diversion. No. This is a 14-minute long interlude in a movie that’s only 63 minutes long. We’re talking a quarter of a film to tell a side story. Sorry, but that’s a lot. And again, it’s totally unnecessary and thus the biggest chink in the film’s armor.



The only other downside is that there are a couple of minor… I’m gonna call them hiccups in the film’s quality. For the most part the movie is okay. It may be a little dark in a couple of spots and washed out in others, a few scratches may pop up here and there. But overall the film quality itself is pretty good for a movie of its age. At the very least, I’ve seen far worse. But there are a couple of instances early on where it looks like the film (and I’m assuming here) may have suffered some damage to a few frames. So there are a couple of rather abrupt and noticeable jumps where the audio completely cuts out and people will move suddenly, and you can see their mouths moving with no sound, before the audio cuts back in again and everything is back in sync. As this all happens in the first half and not the second, where the bulk of the film’s actual plot is located, nothing of significance (at least story-wise) is lost. But it is fairly jarring when it happens, so I’m making note of it.



Other than that though, The Monkey’s Paw is actually a pretty decent little horror flick. The pacing and plotting of the first half could (and should) be WAY better, and there are a couple of changes to the original story (the son dies in a motorcycle accident, not at work) that will upset the literary purists. But once the second half of the movie kicks in it stays on course and turns into a rather creepy little film. Not a scary one, mind you, but one that is well acted and suitably atmospheric for a low budget production. So if you’re interested in a filmed version of the story, a short film would probably be better, but this isn’t a horrible place to start either.

The Monkey’s Paw is available on a variety of streaming services.

The Monkey’s Paw is also available on DVD, occasionally as a double bill with The House in Marsh Road.

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